The 8/9 matchup lived up to it's competitive hype as a tightly contested game. In the end, though, San Diego State's rare offensive emergence was too much for St. John's to overcome. The Aztecs will face the No.1 seed Duke Blue Devils in the third round of the 2015 Men's NCAA Tournament on Sunday at 2:40 PM EST. Hope you enjoyed the coverage and live score results tonight between the St. John's Red Sorm and San Diego State Aztecs. Follow us at VAVEL USA for all tournament throughout all the Madness.
End of the 2nd Half: San Diego State 76 St. John's 64
2nd (36.5): Malik Pope is fouled and hits one out of two from the line and that will be all she wrote, 76-64 SDSU
2nd (51.0): Sir'Dominic Pointer lays it up and in but it's too little too late, 75-64 SDSU
2nd (54.3): Winston Shepard heads to the line for the third straigh possession, makes one out of two, 75-62 SDSU
2nd (1:04): Shepard is fouled once again, makes both shots, 74-62 SDSU
2nd (1:12): D'Angelo Harrison sprints down and lays it in, 72-62 SDSU
2nd (1:27): Shepard is fouled and makes both from the line, 72-60 SDSU
2nd (1:40): Kell is fouled and cans both free throws, 70-60 SDSU
2nd (2:01): Jordan with the shot from long distance, 68-60 SDSU
2nd (2:06): O'Brien fouled on his shot. Sinks both free throws, 68-57 SDSU
2nd (2:58): Greene with long two and SJU has life still! 66-57 SDSU
2nd (3:17): Pointer with the layup, 66-55 SDSU
2nd (3:32): Kell is fouled and sent to the line. Sinks one free throw, 66-53 SDSU
Media Timeout: San Diego State 65 St. John's 53
2nd (4:31): Shrigley nails the dagger three, 65-53 SDSU
2nd (5:59): Pope with the short floater, 62-53 SDSU
2nd (6:55): Harrison slices through and lays it in, 60-53 SDSU
2nd (7:44): Pointer rattles in one of two at the line, 60-51 SDSU
2nd (7:59): Trey Kell nails both ends of the one and one, 60-50 SDSU
Media Timeout: San Diego State 58 St. John's 50
2nd (8:02): Jordan lays it in despite the double team, 58-50 SDSU
2nd (8:40): Spencer with the slam off the offensive rebound, 58-48 SDSU
2nd (8:57): Kell is fouled on the shot. Sinks one out of two free throws, 56-48 SDSU
2nd (10:17): Jamal Branch with the fastbreak layup off the steal, 55-48 SDSU
Media Timeout: San Diego State 55 St. John's 46
2nd (12:31): D'Angelo Harrison is fouled by his childhood friend and sinks one free throw, 55-46 SDSU
2nd (13:28): RYSHEEN JORDAN GOES AIR JORDAN FOR THE SLAM! 55-45 SDSU
2nd (14:08): Harrison is fouled and sinks both free throws, 55-43 SDSU
2nd (14:11): O'Brien seals his man and lays it in off the glass, 55-41 SDSU
2nd (14:43): Jordan is fouled and makes one out of two free throws, 53-41 SDSU
2nd (14:56): Shepard splits the double team and lays it in, 53-40 SDSU
2nd (15:37): Quinn fights through the contact and gets the layup, 51-40 SDSU
2nd (16:10): Rysheed Jordan hits his first bucket of the night, 49-40 SDSU
2nd (16:36): Pointer with the layup AAAAND ONE, 49-38 SDSU
2nd (16:54): O'Brien with the put back once again, 49-35 SDSU
2nd (17:45): O'Brien with the nice post move and layup, 47-35 SDSU
2nd (18:11): D'Angelo Harrison makes the layup underneath, 45-35 SDSU
2nd (18:31): Spencer with another forceful throw down, 45-33 SDSU
2nd (19:12): Dwayne Polee II with ANOTHER deep three pointer, 43-33 SDSU
Start of the 2nd Half
End of the 1st Half: San Diego State 40 St. John's 33
1st (0.0): Malik Pope hits the jumper to beat the buzzer, 40-33 SDSU
1st (30.0): Harrison with the DEEEEP three, 38-33 SDSU
1st (1:00): O'Brien lays it up and in, 38-30 San Diego State
Media Timeout: San Diego State 36, St. John's 30
1st (1:44): Greene gets open and hits the three. 36-30 San Diego State
1st (2:49): O'BRIEN!!! He gets ahead on the fast break and jams it home! 36-27 San Diego State
1st (3:15): Shrigley! He hits another triple from the corner. 34-27 San Diego State.
1st (3:40): Phil Greene IV with the floater in the lane. 31-27 San Diego State
1st (4:11): O'Brien with another putback! 31-25 San Diego State
1st (4:50): O'Brien muscles down low and gets the putback to go. 29-25 San Diego State
1st (5:18): Pointer takes a three-pointer but the ball gets caught between the rim and backbord.
1st (6:08): We are back after some technical difficulties. 27-25 San Diego State
Media Timoeut: San Diego State 22, St. John's 21
1st (9:00): Harrison with the jumper. Spencer tips in a ball on the other end. 22-21 San Diego State
1st (9:33): Shringley hits two consecutive three pointers! 20-19 San Diego State
1st (10:36): Harrison with a beautiful drive to the basket and he finishes. 19-14 St. John's
1st (11:25): Pointer makes the free throw. 17-14 St. John's
Media Timeout: St. John's 16, San Diego State 14
1st (11:25): Pointer is just on fire. He gets the bump and the bucket. His free throw will come after the break.
1st (12:01): Harrison with the jumper. 14-14
1st (12:16): Pope is fouled on the putback. His first free throw is good. The second free throw is no good. 14-12 San Diego State
1st (12:52): A traveling call on San Diego State. The momentum is in favor of St. John's
1st (13:21): Pointer finishes again on the fast break. 13-12 San Diego State
1st (13:55): Pointer with the finish after the steal. 13-10 San Diego State
1st (14:45): Branch with the jumper for the Red Storm. 13-8 San Diego State
Media Timeout: San Diego State 13, St. John's 6
1st (16:07): Pointer takes the drive down the lane and lays it up and it. Polee! ANOTHER BANK SHOT THREE!!! 13-6 San Diego State
1st (16:58): Polee from deep! Another three for the big man. 10-4 San Diego State
1st (17:32): Polee II with a bankshot three AND the foul! He'll try for the four-point play. The shot is no good. 7-4 San Diego State
1st (18:21): Spencer goes for the alley-oop but he is fouled as he goes for the jam. His first shot is good. The second shot is no good. 4-4
1st (18:49): Pointer with the spin move and fallaway jumper. 4-3 St. John's
1st (19:22): Branch with the jumper from the elbow. Spencer with the tip-in on the other end. 3-2 San Diego State
1st (20:00): San Diego State wins the tip. An early foul drawn by Spencer. He will go to the line. The first shot is no good. The second shot is good. 1-0 San Diego State
Welcome, welcome, welcome. We are glad that you have joined us tonight for this 8/9 matchup in the South Region
They say defense wins championship and in a game where one of the nation's best offenses takes on one of the best defenses, who comes out on top? Stay tuned with VAVEL USA to find out.
As mentioned before, San Diego State has a good defense. But just how good are they? By advanced statistics, and factoring in the tempo of their team, the Aztecs have the fourth-best defense in the nation. San Diego State plays a physical style of defense and their length causes a lot of the turnovers they force.
If St. John's wants to win they will need to speed up the pace of the game and play an up-tempo type of offense. This will make sure San Diego State doesn't get themselves into their defensive formation. It's figured that SDSU will want to prevent Sir'Dominic Pointer from getting into driving lanes and denying him the ball. The Red Storm must swing the ball, opening up driving lines for their guards along with open shots.
Expect this to either be a blowout because of San Diego State's inability on the offensive end and St. John's explosive offense, or a tightly contested game where the Aztecs play their lock down defensive keeping the Red Storm under 70 points.
The biggest issue tonight for the Aztecs will be their offense and shooting. It can be very shaky at times, which was seen in the Mountain West championship against Wyoming. Coach Fisher told the media that fact right there is what scares him the most. "We've had games where you would say they can play and beat anybody," Fisher said. "We have had others where you would say they would not qualify for a good CYO team offensively."
It will be an interesting matchup between both teams leading scorers, D'Angelo Harrison and Winston Shepard, who both grew up in the Houston, TX and met in middle school when they played on the same AAU team. Winston on Harrison said, "He's one of the people that I'm closest to in the whole world. Like I say, he's my brother. ...Him and his older brother, they showed me a lot, and I love him. That's my brother."
San Diego State, though, thrives with their stellar defensive play. The Aztecs have held 21 opponents this season shooting under 40% and opponents only average 61.8 points per game against them. They will need some of that play in order to move onto the third round as St. John's averages 71.2 points per game. They will also need leading scorer Winston Shepard (11.1 PPG) to have a better performance offensively than he did against Wyoming, only having 6 points.
The Red Storm can shoot the ball and has one of the most explosive offensives in the nation. They have two NBA-caliber guards in D'Angelo Harrison (17.5 PPG) and Sir'Dominic Pointer (13.5 PPG). The Johnnies also have four other players who average 13 points per game or better. St. John's is 14-2 on the year when games get into the 70s.
St. John's has been dealing with some internal problems this week. Player and talented shot-blocker, Chris Obekpa, was suspended Sunday for a violation of team rules. Coach Steve Lavin calls this situation "less than ideal" but there is no doubt in his mind that this Red Storm team has what it takes to make a run in the tournament with or without Obekpa. A win tonight for St. John's would be their first tournament win since 2000.
SDSU, though, needs to improve their offense from the last game they played in the Mountain West tournament championship. The Aztecs lost by 2 to Wyoming, scoring only 43 points in that game. Coach Steve Fisher told the media, "we're going to need to score more than 43 points if we're going to be successful, and I believe that we will."
San Diego State has won five NCAA Tournament games since 2011. They have also reached the Sweet 16 twice in that same span. 2011 was also the last time St. John's made an appearance in the Big Dance.
I declared the Aztecs the favorite in this one because of the experience their players have. This is San Diego State's sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance and have nine players who have played here before. St. John's on the other hand has none. In an 8-9 matchup that could come down to the wire, experience could decide who wins and who goes home.
Hello and welcome all to VAVEL USA's official live commentary of the 2015 Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament matchup between the St. John's Red Storm (21-11) out of the Big East conference, and the Aztecs of San Diego State (26-8) coming out of the Mountain West conference. This is a No. 9 seed - No. 8 seed matchup and even with San Diego State being the favorite, you never can count out the underdog. It is March and anything can happen. My name is Karl Capen and I will be your host throughout the night from tip-off until the final buzzer sounds.